Um, About Those Evil Special Interests…

The Hill reports today on how many Democratic House freshmen started raising money for their re-election races even before they were officially sworn in to office, raking in big bucks from the same special interests a number of them sought to villify during their campaigns.

Featured in the story is U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport, who said during her race:Â “Instead of drawing upon our shared values and moving toward real solutions, insiders in Washington are too busy working for special interests to spend time working for us.”

From The Hill:

“Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), another freshman Democrat, raised tens of thousands of PAC dollars immediately after winning election. She criticized her opponent, former Rep. John Sweeney (R), for skiing with lobbyists but, since her election victory, she has received more than $65,000 in contributions from political committees such as Altria Group PAC, which represents the makers of Marlboro cigarettes. It gave her $5,000 on Dec. 8.”

During her campaign, Gillibrand’s opponent, former U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, called her hypocritical for slamming his acceptance of special interest and lobbyist cash since she was doing the same thing.

Gillibrand acknowledged as much, but said she needed that cash to “get the message out” and “be a challenger who has a chance of winning.” She noted that she did not accept either gifts or travel from lobbyists, and pledgedÂ to continue to say “no” to such offersÂ after the election.